Attention all e-gamers, you need to take a hard look at adding supplements to your daily routine. The demands of e-gaming can negatively impact your health and performance while playing. This blog will cover several areas e-gamers should consider supplementing their diet to repair, protect and compete at the best possible level. Areas such as vision, brain boosting, energy, joint support, stress, and sleep support all play an important part in your health and e-gaming outcomes. Let’s look at each of these areas and what is recommended to support your needs.
Vision
Vision is perhaps one of the most important components with regard to e-gaming. Areas of interest should be eye fatigue from staring at screens for extended periods of time, blue-light damage, dry eyes, and keeping visual focus. Luckily, a few supplements cover the full gamete of these concerns. My favorite eye health ingredient is astaxanthin (AstaPure®). Astaxanthin has been shown to help decrease eye fatigue (Why do you think salmon have such endurance swimming upriver? Astaxanthin is part of their food source). It also helps decrease inflammation and is protective against the harmful effects of blue light. Consider taking an omega-3 supplement daily to decrease dry eyes. Saffron (affronEYE®) has also been helpful for eye health. I would be remiss if I left out one of the more popular eye health supplements—Lutein. Of all the ingredients mentioned above, lutein may be the front-runner for eye health. In some cases, you may be able to find a product that contains both ingredients.
Other e-gaming eye health tips:
- Distance yourself
- Invest in the right monitor
- Adjust the light (don’t play in the dark)
- Consider using blue light glasses
- Take a break for at least 20 minutes
Energy and Brain Boosting
Anyone who has sat through a night of gaming knows how draining it can be on the mind and body. The need for energy is most likely due to brain fatigue and partly due to the late hours of the night people often play. In either case, people reach for a quick fix with energy drinks high in caffeine (and sugar) to perk up their energy and don’t realize this is not only harmful but will also be ineffective over extended periods. You need to focus on foods and supplements to support energy levels without causing a “crash” or negatively affecting health, i.e., increased blood pressure, anxiety, sleep issues, and elevated blood sugar.
I decided to cover energy and brain-boosting in the same section because of the overlap above. Luckily, the natural product arena has several ingredients which can help with both energy and brain boosting. Three supplements come to mind and should be considered; COGNIGRAPETM, Sibelius: SageTM, Zynamite®, and PQQ.
- COGNIGRAPETM has been shown to aid cognitive function in attention, immediate and delayed memory, and improve mood. Improving mood can be important for those “having a bad” day gaming.
- SibeliusTM: Sage research shows it improves concentration, focus, and reaction times. As an e-gamer, better concentration, focus, and reaction times may put you ahead of the competition.
- Zynamite® (mango leaf extract) has been studied for its positive impacts on mental energy, improved reaction times, and enhanced brain activity.
- PQQ (pyrroloquinoline quinone) can increase energy and is considered a “brain booster.” PQQ is vitamin-like and supports your mitochondria, the energy factory of your cells. Since PQQ helps the mitochondria work more efficiently and produce more energy, it also helps you have more energy without jitters or crashes. Studies show that higher doses (20mg daily) also enhance memory and cognitive health.
Recovery
I believe that recovery is often overlooked by e-gamers. Since such a physical and mental demand is placed on the body over extended periods, recovery should be a part of every competitive e-gamer supplement program. Since people often end one game and start another, supplementing daily would be a great way to ensure you recover quickly. There are numerous supplement ingredients to be considered for e-gamer’s recovery programs. Below is a list of ingredients and their effects:
- Astaxanthin (AstaPure®)- Eye strain, muscle fatigue
- L-carnitine- Muscle fatigue
- Omega-3s- inflammation, eye strain, joint stiffness
- Ashwagandha (Sensoril®/KSM-66®)- Physical and emotional strain, stress
- Bilberry- Eye strain
Joint Support
Joint support is not usually on the radar for e-gamers. Joint discomfort is one of the major complaints of e-gamers due to the repetitive motion and stress put on the hands, wrists, and arms. It is for this reason, I am including some top supplements to consider for e-gamers who either already have a problem or would like to prevent one from happening.
- Boswellia (AquaLOX®)- known to help decrease pain and improve flexibility
- Omega-3s– helps with joint stiffness, inflammation and possibly pain
- Type II Collagen (Collavant n2)- supports joint health and mobility
- Turmeric/Curcumin (HydroCurc®)- decreases inflammation and pain
- Black seed oil (ThymoQuinTM)- supports a healthy inflammatory response
- PEA (Levagen®)- Reduction in joint pain, stiffness and improves function
Stress
Stress control should be considered a must for any serious e-gamers supplement program. When you are in the heat of the moment, physical and mental stress is extremely high. We know that prolonged stress increases the risk of many serious health challenges, such as cardiovascular disease, blood sugar problems, and even obesity so getting a grip on stress is critical. Even when you are out of the competition mode, managing stress’s impact on the body is essential for the next time you play.
Since you don’t want to get drowsy while playing, this narrows the field for what supplements work best for stress. It is for this reason I default to my favorite stress category of supplements:
- Saffron (affron®)- affron® has numerous clinical studies showing it helps reduce stress and improve overall mood. Like adaptogens, there is no drowsiness. This is one of my favorites, and I take it daily and only require a small dose of just 28mg.
- Caralluma (CALMaluma)– CALMaluma helps with stress and frustration and improves relaxation.
- Adaptogens- Adaptogens are supplements that help your body adapt and recover from both physical and mental stressors. Since e-gaming is physically and mentally stressful, adaptogens are a perfect fit. In some cases, adaptogens can also help improve your ability to concentrate and focus and even improve sleep quality. You may be familiar with some of my favorites, such as ashwagandha (Sensoril®), Bacopa (Synapsa®), and American Ginseng (Cereboost®) also show promise as both adaptogens and improve your ability to focus.
- Sceletium Tortuosum (Zembrin®)- Zembrin is not an adaptogen, yet it is phenomenal at helping reduce stress and improve mood. Just 25mg daily will take the edge off quickly and without drowsiness.
Winding Down—Sleep
You just finished several hours of gaming, it’s late at night, and you need to get some good sleep; what now? While many reach for drugs and alcohol to slow their mind down fast, this is not the best approach for your health or a good night’s sleep. My approach is to support the body naturally and consider using supplements such as saffron (affron®), Lemon verbena (RelaxPLX®), and PEA (Levagen®).
- Saffron (affron®)- Studies with affron® show that a small dose of either 14 or 28mg 1 hour prior to sleep helped improve many aspects of sleep, including falling asleep quicker, staying asleep, improving sleep quality, and not feeling groggy in the morning.
- Lemon verbena (RelaxPLX®)- Studies with RelaxPLX® improved time in the deeper stages of sleep, specifically the percentage of time in deep sleep and REM.
- PEA (Levagen®)- Studies with Levagen®+ showed that people went to sleep three times faster than the placebo group.
As we can clearly see, supplements should play an important role in an e-gamer’s life. Whether you play daily or binge one night a week, supplements should be considered part of your daily supplement schedule.